BLM Secret Plan to Destroy Wild Horses
June 13, 2009
PRESS RELEASE – from The Cloud Foundation
June 11, 2009 – for immediate release
Documents Reveal BLM Secret Plan to Destroy Wild Horses
Documents obtained from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) via the Freedom of Information Act by a Phoenix-based non-profit, The Conquistador Program, reveal shocking and detailed plans to destroy healthy wild horses in government holding facilities as well as those still remaining in the wild on public lands.
BLM employees as well as a USDA veterinarian held weekly “Implementation Team” meetings beginning in July of 2008 in which they discussed and developed strategies aimed at ridding BLM of thousands of mustangs. In October they completed a 68 page document entitled “Alternative Management Options”. Tactics included in this document are reminiscent of those used to wipe out Native American tribes in the 1800s.
The BLM team created scenarios for killing mustangs using barbiturates, gun shots, or captive bolts. Bodies would be disposed of through rendering, burial or incineration. They discussed killing 1200-2000 wild horses per year. The document states that “the general public would be prohibited from viewing euthanasia.” Additionally, the Team felt that “increased support from public relations and management staff would also be needed to insulate those doing the actual work from the public, media and Congressional scrutiny/criticism.”
“Minutes from these meetings as well as the Draft Plan reveal what amounts to ‘the final solution’ for the American mustang,” states Ginger Kathrens, filmmaker and Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. “Despite a huge outcry from the American public last year regarding BLM plans to kill wild horses in holding, the agency is still pressing forward with a plan to destroy our American mustangs both on and off the range.”
Division Chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program Don Glenn told The Cloud Foundation that “no decision has been made to move forward on a large scale with this plan, yet.”
BLM meeting minutes speak for themselves. “Security at facilities and at gathers would need to be increased to combat eco-terrorism. Having the people that are willing to put down healthy horses at gather sites could be a problem. Having vets putting down healthy horses at preparation facility[ies] could also be a problem.” Meeting minutes reveal the psychological toll that employees would pay—“have counseling for employees and contractors that have to euthanize the healthy horses because it is very stressful.”
The report created an option in which wild horses of all ages could be sold “without limitation”. In other words, horses could be sold directly to killer buyers in unchecked numbers. The Team admitted that “some wild horses will go to slaughter”.
“Once they are gone, they’re gone” says Karen Sussman, President of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros. “To lose this incomparable species would be a travesty.”
Team Members formulated ways in which they could circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act, asking “How many (wild horses) could be euthanized during a gather (roundup) without having NEPA?” BLM discussed ways to circumvent the federal carcass disposal law (43 CFR 4730.2). Conversations included how many wild horses could be rendered at the Reno Rendering plant or “disposed of in pits”. The Team concluded that “there will not be large numbers of horses euthanized during gathers or in the field. This is due to state environmental laws.”
Recommendations include the creation of gelding herds, and sterilization of mares to create non-reproductive herds in the wild in place of natural herds. The team recommended changing the sex ratio from the normal 50% males and 50% females to 70% males and 30% females. Then the experimental two-year infertility drug, PZP-22, would be given to all mares that are returned to the wild. Plans call for rounding up the wild horses every two years to re-administer the drug.
“Mares on the drug will cycle monthly and, with the altered sex ratio, the social chaos will be dangerous and on-going,” Kathrens explains. “Any semblance of normal wild horse society will be completely destroyed.”
Kathrens has spent 15 years in the wild documenting mustang behavior for her PBS television documentaries which chronicle the life story of Cloud, the now famous pale palomino stallion she has filmed since birth. “Even Cloud and his little herd in Montana are in serious danger if BLM implements these options,” she continues. “The BLM plans a massive round up in Cloud’s herd beginning August 30, 2009.”
The BLM will not guarantee that Cloud and his family will remain free.
The BLM documents referred to above and photos of wild horses are available from The Cloud Foundation (and below).
BLM – Wild Horse Alternative Management Options
BLM – Implementation Team meeting minutes
The Cloud Foundation, Inc.
107 South 7th St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
719-633-3842
719-633-3896 (fax)
info@thecloudfoundation.org
thecloudfoundation.org
More information:
The Conquistador Equine Rescue and Advocacy Program
Cloud Portrait in winter
Pam Nickoles Photography 
June 15, 2009 at 7:07 PM
“Great spirits have always found opposition from mediocrities.
Most cannot understand it when a gentle person that does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices towards horses.
Ginger Kathrens honestly and courageously uses her intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of her thoughts in clear form.”
Truely, Albert Eistein was speaking of Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation. Her efforts to tutor and expose information to USA citizens has sparked Global interest. Citizens have been denied secret information to end their National Treasure ~ The Wild Mustang.
There is very little time left. Act Today ~ Write President Obama ~ This is only thing to left to say.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
Thank you Ginger Kathrens for your Press Release.
Many Prayers go out to you, The Cloud Foundation, Others Advocates who are at the Monday meeting at 3:00 pm time at on ~ live web Radio Web Live 6/15/09. This is urgent.
Stay informed listen to meetings with public
Meetings BLM on web radio this Monday on the 15th.
http://www.nvhorsepower.org/wild_and_free.html
Monday June 15th from 8:00am – 5:00pm PST. Listen to the Board that advises the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program and tune in at 3:00pm to watch the public comment period. Ginger Kathrens will be joined by many wild horse advocates to speak directly to the Board. Horse Power, a Nevada non-profit, also needs finances.
Ginger Kathrens’ Cloud is a hero and so is Ginger Kathrens ~ Barbara Ellen Ries
June 25, 2009 at 2:53 AM
3:11 pm PDT, Jun 24, Barbara Ellen Ries, Arizona
Senator Leahy Proposes ” Truth Commission to investigate and Online petition to investigate and prosecute constitutional abuses of Bush administration. Senator Leahy ~ Please investigate the documents from the BLM. One would hope that the time invested in this information be known and discovered. I hope and pray that this information dark and shocking as it may be is investigated. I hope for the wild horses sake, The Cloud Foundation and horse advocates as well as myself in the USA are represented and not and the laws for horses in the wild horse and burro act. Here’s body of the petition: I hereby join Senator Patrick Leahy’s call for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission, to investigate the Bush-Cheney Administration’s constitutional abuses so we make sure they never happen again. These abuses may include the use of torture, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws. A truth and reconciliation commission should be tasked with seeking answers so that we can develop a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past. Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened. The best way to move forward is getting to the truth and finding out what happened — so we can make sure it does not happen in any way shape or form. Thank you for any consideration. Documents on web below http://www.conquistadorprogram.org/blm__court_documents_on_wild_horses For Immediate Release Contact: Patricia Haight, Ph.D., (480) 430-2294, pathaight@yahoo.com Julianne French, 520-309-5791, J_French@cox.net Documents from Bureau of Land Management Reflect Intent of BLM for Wild Horses in Holding Facilities & on Public Lands Signed by: [Your name] (Barbara Ellen Ries) Send this web site to friends family and others in support http://www.bushtruthcommission.com/ Easy to find the money trail or tail. Barbara Ellen Ries my web http://spirithorsebr.tripod.com
Please send to everyone ….
Barbara Ellen Ries
July 4, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Stand you ground with Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud FoundationReps. Raul Grijalva,D-Ariz., and Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.,
Lawmakers and Citizens Come to the Rescue of Wild Horses
Lawmakers introduced legislation following the Bureau of Land Management’s controversial announcement last year that it is considering killing large numbers of wild horses taken from the rangeland.
FOXNews.com
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Two lawmakers are saddling up to save wild horses.
Reps. Raul Grijalva,D-Ariz., and Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., are trying to restore a 34-year-ban on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros after it was lifted four years ago.
They introduced legislation following the Bureau of Land Management’s controversial announcement last year that it is considering killing large numbers of wild horses taken from the rangeland.
“Congressmen Rahall and Grijalva are seeking to protect the rightful place of wild horses on our public lands in the West and to stop the misuse of tax dollars on inhumane round-ups,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society.
“They have been tireless in their efforts to correct the past mismanagement of this program and to get the program on the right footing.”
But the bureau says it’s stuck between a rock and a hard place because it has few options to manage wild horses that aren’t being adopted, and the costs for keeping them in a holding facility are overwhelming its budget.
“We’re the bad guys,” Tom Gorey, a bureau spokesman, said about the public campaign animal welfare advocates are waging against the bureau.
“They’re looking at the situation and failing to realize we’re a multi-use agency,” he said. “We don’t just manage horses in the bureau.”
The bureau is spending $27 million of its $36 million budget to hold 34,000 horses, or three-fourths of its budget. Of those horses, 3,700 were adopted last year.
“There’s no adoption market to speak of,” Gorey said. “It’s very weak.”
Gorey said the bureau is reprogramming $20 million in its budget to pay for the holding costs and has told lawmakers that it would need $85 million by 2010 to continue holding the horses without destroying them.
“Congress has shown no inclination to fund us at a higher rate,” he said.
The bureau is defying the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which requires excess animals not being adopted to be destroyed in the most humane and cost-efficient manner possible or, under certain circumstances, be sold without limitation.
The bureau has chosen not to slaughter the horses out of concern over public and congressional reaction.
“All we said last year is we need to consider legal options to humanely put down excess horses for which there is no adoption demand,” Gorey said.
Since 2004, when the ban on slaughtering or selling horses was lifted, only 2,900 horses have been sold. Two incidents in 2005 led to 41 horses being resold and slaughtered. As a result, the bureau warned potential buyers that they could be subject to prosecution if horses ended up in a slaughterhouse.
But this isn’t enough for lawmakers. Grijalva and Rahall introduced their legislation last year and it was passed by the House. But the legislation got stuck in the Senate and the lawmakers had to introduce the legislation again this week for the new Congress. Aides to the lawmakers hope the legislation will be passed by the end of the year.
“It’s been an ongoing issue and the wild horses were symbols of the West,” said Natalie Luna, an aide to Grijalva. “And a lot of people who live in the West where they roam free have asked for the protections.
“We hope the Bureau of Land Management will want to cooperate with the needs and voices of the constituents,” she/he said. This is ground we want to stand up for and protect our horses and national treasure!!
What You Can Do to Help Save Cloud’s Herd and America’s Wild Horses
Over 40% of America’s wild horses have been removed from the wild from 2000-2008 alone and if the agency responsible for managing our wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management, does not change we are in danger of losing the last of our wild horses. Over 100 herds have been zeroed out from the over 19 million acres legally designated for their use. The BLM needs to return wild horses to these areas—over 30,000 are currently in government holding.
As few as 13,600 wild horses remain in designated public land herd areas in ten western states in America, among them is Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountain area of Montana and Wyoming. Only 25% of our wild herds are currently at genetically viable population levels! Cloud’s herd is one of these although a massive round-up planned for August 2009 would change this. The round-up would result in 60 horses losing their families and their freedom, including some horses who have lived their entire 20+ years in the wild. We must stop the destruction of Cloud’s herd and work for the sustainable future of all our wild horse herds across the west.Congressmen Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) have stepped forward to make real and positive changes to the Wild Horse and Burro program with their recently introduced bill HR 1018. Please write to them to thank them for their hard work. You can read Ginger Kathrens’ comments and suggestions to the congressmen here.
Here is a short list of government contacts — please write, e-mail and/or call on behalf of Cloud and all our wild mustangs.
Contact the following agencies and representatives
PRESIDENT:
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comment line: 202-456-1111
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
CONGRESS:
1. Stop the BLM from managing our wild horses to extinction.
2. Halt all round-ups of wild horses until range conditions and herd numbers can be verified.
3. Return wild horses in holding to the 100+ herd areas (19+ million acres) that have been zeroed out.
4. Expand the Pryor Mountain. Wild Horse Range for Cloud’s Herd & protect herd at viable population level of at least 150 adult horses until range is expanded.
Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV)
2307 Rayburn HOB
Washington,DC 20515
(202) 225-3452
email
Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
1440 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
ph (202) 225-2435
fax (202) 225-1541
Email to: Laurel.Angell@mail.house.gov
Your US Senators and Congress people
Montana Senator Max Baucus (D)—specific to Cloud’s herd
511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC, 20510, phone: 202-224-2651
e-mail from: http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Montana Senator Jon Tester (D)—specific to Cloud’s herd
204 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington DC, 20510,
phone: 202-224-2644, e-mail from: http://tester.senate.gov/Contact/
Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee:
304 Dirksen Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510
phone: (202) 224-4971, Fax: (202) 224-6163, e-mail all 23 members at http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Reinstate wild horse protections removed in 2004 by the Burns Rider and include language in the bill that would prevent BLM from destroying healthy wild horses.
DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR- BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
1. Work to expand the legal boundaries of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range to include the historic and current use areas in the Custer National Forest. This will allow for a truly viable herd of 200-300 mustangs.
2. Keep the population at a viable number of at least 150 adults until range expansion is achieved. This will allow for the preservation of the rare Spanish genetics of the herd. Bringing in horses from other herds is ill advised, unnecessary and costly.
3. Do not remove older horses
4. Work to protect the mountain lions that have kept the herd at zero population growth in years past. Natural management should be the goal.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar \
DOI, 1849 C Street NW, Washington DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-7351, exsec@ios.doi.gov
BLM Acting Director Ron Wenker & Acting Deputy Director Mike Nedd
1849 C Street NW, Washington DC, 20040, phone: 202-208-3801 Ron_Wenker@blm.gov, Mike_Nedd@blm.gov
Don Glenn BLM Division Chief of Wild Horse and Burro Program
BLM Washington Office, 1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665 Washington DC 20240
Phone: 1-800-710-7597 or 202-208-3801, Fax: 202-208-5242, wildhorse@blm.gov
Jim Sparks, Field Manager BLM -Billings Field Office
5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101
phone (406) 896-5223, fax (406) 896-5281
Jim_Sparks@blm.gov
United States Department of Agriculture
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250
Email: AgSec@usda.gov
FOREST SERVICE
Ask the following people to please work with the BLM to expand the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range to include the historic and current use areas in the Custer National Forest. This will allow for a truly viable herd of 200-300 mustangs.
• Abigail Kimbell, Chief USDA Forest Service
1400 Independence Ave., SW Washington, D.C. 20250-0003
phone: (202) 205-1661, e-mail: akimbell@fs.fed.us
• Mary Erickson, Acting Forest Supervisor- Custer National Forest
PO Box 130, Bozeman, MT 59771,
p. 406-587-6701, mcerickson@fs.fed.us
• Chris Worth, Acting Deputy Supervisor
1310 Main Street, Billings, MT 59105
phone: 406-657-6200, cworth@fs.fed.us
Please write letters to the editor, ask that your favorite radio and TV hosts cover this story and last but not least, please tell your friends and family about wild horses and ask them to join the Cloud Foundation in helping to protect and preserve wild horses on our public lands.
List compiled by The Cloud Foundation, March, 2009 ~ http://www.thecloudfoundation.org
Cloud’s grandchildren, Arrow & Image: two who could be removed
July 4, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Stand your ground in July’s 2009, Peaceful protest with the Cloud Foundation ~ Save Cloud and his Herd and the Ely, Nevada, horses from extermination. Donate and become a list of CITIZENS STANDING Their for to GROUND FOR SAVE WILD HORSE HERDS, e-mail join today!!
Sign up to the Cloud Foundation at support@thecloudfoundation.org.
If you can help call,
Phone:
719.633.3842
U.S. Mail:
The Cloud Foundation
107 South 7th Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
July 17, 2009 at 4:17 AM
Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) Act, sponsored by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall for a vote tomorrow Contact your represenatative ASAP!!
FRIDAY, July 24, 2009
July 27, 2009 at 3:38 AM
July 26, 2009
USA Citizens for Cloud ,
His Herd & Wild Horses and Burros ~
to ROAM Free!!
Stop the Round ups of Cloud ~ His Herd & Wild Horses & Burros)
Let them ROAM ~ FREE
We live in the best of times and the worst of times ~ Charles Dickens .
STAND YOUR GROUND with Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation.
How to help ASAP ~ See Below!!
1.
Drastic Removal Planned for Cloud’s Herd
Watch this 30 second video by Ginger Kathrens
Newsletter
http://webmail.aol.com/43792/aol/en-us/Suite.aspx
VIDEO
2. Write and SPEAK OUT!! Clouds and his Herd are on the roundup list now….. Don’t let this round up & death sentence happen. What do you do? Address and e-mail below.
3. Go into silent vigilance of hope prayer and meditation for Cloud and his Herd and all the Wild Horses
4. Send this E-mail to Director of the Interior ASAP!
Time is of the essence. “Cloud and his family (herd) could be killed before his October 2009 movie comes out on PBS.”Ginger Kathrens
Email Ken Salazar and the Bureau of Land Management now! There is an easy format below you can use just add your name.
To this e-mail: exsec@iosdoi.gov
Mail: Ken Salazar
Department of Interior
1849 C Street , N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202-7351
http://www.doi.gov/contact.html
Dear Kenneth Interior Secretary Salazar,
Interior Secretary Salazar and the Bureau of Land Management I’m asking you to stop the Roundups of Cloud and his Family!
I am writing to express my extreme disappointment in THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT’S (BLM) DECISION to continue THEIR plan to euthanize or hold in captivity thousands of wild horses and burros and ROUNDUPS ~ AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER.
The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act (1971) was created with the hope of managing healthy herds of wild horses and burros on healthy Western rangelands. With the goal of managing the sizes of these herds, the BLM believes that wild horses and burros consume unfair amounts of forage on BLM lands. “On March 3, 2009, it was stated by a BLM representative that the forage depletion on public lands leaves cattle with nothing to eat. Contrary to that statement, a Wild Horse Ecologist, Craig C. Downer, of Nevada, stated in his speech (Wild Horse Speech With Tables And Charts, Wild Horse Summit, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2008) that wild horses and burros only consume a mere 5.6% of the forage consumed by livestock on BLM land. “
It is not necessary to hold these wild horses and burros in captivity or round them up for slaughter (an expense to taxpayers). THE Cloud Foundation OFFERS an Alternative Herd Plan & SOLUTION. (The Cloud Foundation Web) This was given to the BLM in June 2009.
The BLM holding costs for the BLM in 2009 are $33 million, and in 2014 it is estimated to be $85 million. This business plan will help unravel the problem that the BLM has created in gathering horses off the range land at the tax payers’ expense.
1. Stop the BLM from managing our wild horses and Clouds Herd to extinction.2. Halt all round-ups of wild horses until range conditions and herd numbers can be verified.
3. Return wild horses in holding to the 100+ herd areas (19+ million acres) that have been zeroed out.
4. Expand the Pryor Mountain. Wild Horse Range for Clouds Herd & protect herd at viable population level of at least 150 adult horses until range is expanded.
Sincerely thank you for any and all consideration to saving our National Treasure and Cloud‘s Herd and family.
You’re Name (_______________________)
http://www.conquistadorprogram.org/blmcourt_d… DRAFT PLAN
For Immediate Release Contact: Patricia Haight, Ph.D., (480) 430-2294, pathaight@yahoo.com Julianne French, 520-309-5791, J_French@cox.net
Nevada and Pryor Mountain in July and August of 2009 Roundups fact or fiction. History will tell. Opps my bad will not do for the United States citizens who love and cherish these beauties.
Source: Barbara Ellen Ries, Advocate for Cloud Foundation.
If you think we being harsh read documents from the BLM draft and we will see if Cloud and his Herd lives to ROAM FREE. I hope this draft was just some humans having a bad day and not reality. I believe “The Truth shall set the Horses free one way or another.”
Barbara Ellen Ries, Arizona Horse Advocate and Pro-ROAM
If your organization can help please e-mail me at ~ spirithorsebr@aol.com
Barbara Ellen Ries, spirithorsebr@aol.com
August 20, 2009 at 4:17 AM
Sign Petition to Save Cloud’s Herd
We need 5,000 signatures – please share this petition with friends!
The round up of Cloud’s herd is scheduled for September 1st and 70 horses plus foals could lose their freedom and their families. Many of those removed would be horses in Cloud’s age group- even his 18 year old mother could be targeted for removal! This unnecessary removal must be stopped. Please sign this petition which will be sent to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and BLM Director Bob Abbey. Please click here to sign the petition- it only takes a moment!
September 2, 2009 at 3:38 AM
Click Here to visit The Cloud Foundations YouTube page.
Famous Wild Horse Herd Granted Two-Day Reprieve from Massive Roundup Monday, 31 August 2009 21:06
Press Release
BILLINGS, MONTANA- AUGUST 31, 2009: The Pryor Mountain Wild Horses, perhaps best known from the popular Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies PBS Nature series, have two more days of freedom before an unprecedented round up could begin. The Pryors roundup has been delayed for two days to allow Judge Sullivan of the Federal District Court to hear the case brought against the BLM by The Cloud Foundation and Front Range Equine Rescue.
The Bureau of Land Management, responsible for managing wild horses on public lands in the United States, plans to round up all the horses in Montana’s only remaining wild herd and remove 70 horses plus four or more foals. This will leave a non-viable herd of only 120 horses according to respected equine geneticist, Gus Cothran, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University. The Pryor Mountain wild horses are a unique Spanish herd renowned for their primitive markings, historical connections, and spectacular habitat.
BLM is dispatching National Wild Horse and Burro Program staff for this round up, perhaps because they expect trouble from humane advocates who are currently being prevented from observing this roundup. “Never before in my experience have plans been so vague and operations so secret in the Pryors,” says Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation.” The BLM will be closing down roads to the mountain top where the majority of the herd spends their days grazing peacefully in their subalpine meadows. Young foals, only days old will be driven by helicopters and are in serious danger of being hurt or killed. Billings BLM Field Manager Jim Sparks told one advocate that they would expect a loss of 2% or six horses as a result of this operation.
The BLM has always had signs posted at the entrances to the horse range that tell the public to ‘report violations of harassment, death or removals.’ “Why are they above the law?” Asks Crow Tribe Historian and Elder, Howard Boggess. “Everything that is against the law for me they are planning to do to these horses. This is a very sad thing as far as I’m concerned. The horses have lived here for over 200 years. Even under the harassment of the BLM they’ve survived since 1971.”
The BLM claims that it is necessary to remove 70 horses in order to “maintain a thriving ecological balance.” However, the range is still green in late August following three years of above average precipitation after a multi-year drought. The horses are fat, preparing to go into winter. “Why are they removing nearly half the horses after the drought is over? I’ve told them [the BLM] if you take these 70 horses you’ve destroyed the bloodline, the gene pool will no longer be there,” continues Boggess. “Their whole goal is to get rid of the horses.”
“What they are proposing to do is criminal— people locally and all across the Nation worked so hard to save these horses from eradication in 1968,” explains Kathrens. “This range was specially designated for wild horses, the first of its kind in the nation. This is their refuge and it is about to be invaded.”
The BLM plans to remove 17 horses over ten years old and by BLM’s Standard Operating Procedures, “old, sick or lame horses shall be destroyed.” “When they take out the old horses they remove the ones that know the way to the water, the good grass, the way around the canyon – they’re taking out all of the knowledge of the herd,” Boggess explains. “It is really sad to sit there and look at the horses and think that in the next ten days they’ll be taken off this range and they’ll never see it again.”
This case is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, September 2nd, and thousands of people around the United States and the world await the decision of Judge Sullivan which will decide the fate of the unique and beloved Pryor Wild Horse Herd.
Please Keep Calling! Wednesday, 26 August 2009 13:46
WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! KEEP CALLING
We’ve just been told that BLM Director Bob Abbey is meeting with other officials regarding this round up due to the number of calls and e-mails they are receiving. KEEP IT UP- KEEP CALLING, FAXING AND E-MAILING.
These are our wild horses living on our public lands!
HALT THE PRYORS ROUND UP and all others across the west.
BLM Director Bob Abbey
Call: 202-208-3801 or 866-468-7826
Fax: 202-208-5242
Robert_Abbey@blm.gov This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Help us keep you updated– join Cloud on Facebook and Twitter now! 11th Hour for Cloud’s Herd – Act Now!!! Wednesday, 26 August 2009 13:11
Please act now to stop this unnecessary and cruel round up— the BLM still plans to move forward on September 1st
The Bureau of Land Management is rounding up and eliminating 12 herds (650 horses) off 1.4 million acres in Nevada right now– next they plan to destroy Cloud’s herd with a massive removal of 70 horses that would include OLDER HORSES and YOUNG FOALS.
Many of the horses you have come to love in the Cloud shows and will meet in the new Cloud show on October 25th will lose their families and their freedom next week. By zeroing out whole herds and reducing others to below genetic viability, the BLM is circumventing the will of Congress. The House just passed the Restoring of American Mustangs (ROAM) act and the Senate will review this bill (now S.1579) when they return from recess in September. Is BLM just trying to do as much irrevocable damage to America’s wild horses as they can before Congress can act?
This round up will start on September 1st unless we can stop it. Removing 70 horses will destroy this unique little Spanish herd, leaving them well below the bare minimum for genetic viability. The range is in great condition and the horses are healthy. This removal should be stopped. Please do all you can to help! Listen to Ginger Kathrens on Endangered Stream Live– a special edition show “Angels for Cloud”
National Call in Day for Cloud is Friday, August 28th — SPREAD THE WORD! Have your kids call in and write too– These horses need to be preserved for future generations and we must act NOW
1. Call/write/fax President Obama as often as you can—this herd is a national treasure and should not be wiped out by a government agency. Please flood the phone lines with calls! Phone: 202-456-1111 or 202-456-9000 Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail Obama
2. Ask Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to stop this round up
Call: 202-208-3100
Write: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
3. BLM Director Bob Abbey, tell him to halt this round up– he must reconsider his agency’s actions
Call: 202-208-3801 or 866-468-7826
Fax: 202-208-5242
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
4. Call and write your own Senators and Congress people- tell them that Montana is allowing the destruction of Cloud’s unique and historical wild horse herd. Politely express your outrage and ask them to help stop this round up. Find your state offices here
September 3, 2009 at 5:08 AM
compatriots!
Status Update Wednesday, 02 September 2009 16:48
The DC District Court Judge denied our request for a Temporary Restraining Order. We are not giving up on these horses though– KEEP CALLING YOUR SENATORS and CONGRESS PEOPLE, All MEDIA OUTLETS and tell your friends– this is another treasure being destroyed if we can’t stop this unneccessary, callous and massive roundup.
We will do our best to keep you updated- the round up is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Thursday Sept. 3 and over the next few days or week the BLM plans to remove over 70 horses– from older mares and stallions to young foals. Don’t give up.
Who Has Been Hired to Round Up Cloud’s Herd? Wednesday, 02 September 2009 14:28
Dave Cattoor is a contractor hired by the BLM to perform wild horse round-ups. He and his wife and son run a business largely funded by the American taxpayer to harass and remove wild horses and burros. He was indicted by a federal grand jury and pled guilty to illegally hunting wild horses, aiding and abetting in 1992. He rounded up protected American mustangs, corralled into pens, loaded them into trucks, and hauled them to a slaughter house in Texas where they lost their lives. It was government theft and animal abuse. Among wild horse and burro advocates, he has a reputation of being cruel and inhumane. Photographs of newborn foals run to exhaustion, found hog tied on the range, horses and burros bleeding from their nostrils, broken legs and injured during exhausting gallops to captured pens are displayed on many wild horse and burro web sites.
He is currently being investigated by the Department of Interior Inspector General for procurement fraud. It is known from federal contracting web sites that he has earned 13 million dollars since 2000 for which records are available. It is believed he has earned more than 21 million dollars since his conviction. Both he and his wife spoke separately before the Wild Horse and Advisory Board in 2009 and advocated for the continued use of helicopter round ups in an attempt to influence the boards recommendation to continue their lucrative contracting business. Federal law prohibits the use of contractors that have been convicted of a crime. Generally, a indictment would eliminate a contractor from consideration. However, Mr. Cattoor has been rewarded and made a millionaire many times over by the BLM despite the public outrage.
Fully knowing the public’s concern about Mr. Dave Cattoor ‘s inhumane practices, the BLM Billings, Montana office have denied humane groups request to placed humane observers on the ground with full access during the Pryor round to ensure animals are treated humanely. Wild horses advocates have advised the BLM Billlings office as well as BLM officials in Washington DC that foals only day old and heavily pregnant mares are among those the contractor plans to run long distances for captured.
Click Here for more information about Dave Cattoor
Click Here to see a Helicopter Removal Pictorial
Article from Honoring Freedom: The Ride to Save America’s Wild Horses Wednesday, 02 September 2009 14:18
American Indian Leaders and others concerned about BLM’s wild horse management gather for Ceremony to honor the land and pray for the safety of the horses
Download PDF Here
Legal Battle to Save Clouds herd Wednesday, 02 September 2009 12:37
See Documents Who Has Been Hired to Round Up Cloud’s Herd Tuesday, 01 September 2009 15:02
Click Here to visit The Cloud Foundations YouTube page.
Congressman Raul Grijalva calls for BLM to stop Roundup Friday, 28 August 2009 00:00
Congressman Raul Grijalva calls for BLM to stop Roundup not only of Cloud’s Herd but of all Wild Horses and Burros
Download full PDF here!
Crow Elder & Historian Speaks Against Roundup Tuesday, 01 September 2009 00:00
Howard Boggess, Member of the Crow Tribe of Indians, Elder and Historian talks about the Pryor Wild Horses he’s known all his life. Mr. Boggess discusses what could happen if the roundup of Cloud’s herd goes forward on Sept. 4th. Everything that is against the law for me they are planning to do to these horses. This is a very sad thing as far as I’m concerned. The horses have lived here for over 200 years. Even under the harassment of the BLM they’ve survived since 1971.
Keep calling Secretary of Interior Salazar, BLM Director Bob Abbey, the Billings BLM Office and President Obama.
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/donate-now
October 11, 2009 at 8:01 PM
By JIM ROBBINS
Published: October 7, 2009
HELENA, Mont. — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday that he was proposing to create seven new wild-horse preserves, including one in the East and one in the Midwest, to address the problem of a growing population crowding the Western range.
The program, which also applies to wild burros, would expand the use of contraceptives and would geld more herds on public lands in the West, Mr. Salazar said.
The seven new preserves would accommodate some 25,000 non-reproducing horses. The preserves’ size and exact sites have yet to be determined, however, and the entire program is subject to Congressional approval. A spokesman for Mr. Salazar had no estimate of the total cost but put the expense of creating the two preserves in the East and the Midwest alone at some $96 million.
The goal is to reduce not only the 37,000 free roaming horses and burros in the West but also the 32,000 housed in corrals, where they must be fed and cared for at government expense. In 1971, there were just 25,000 wild horses and burros.
“The arid Western lands simply cannot support a population this large without significant damage,” Mr. Salazar said from Washington in a conference call with reporters.
The welfare of wild horses, a resonant symbol of the Old West and pioneer history, remains a politically sensitive issue for Americans, and officials emphasized that the new program would not involve euthanasia or slaughter of horses, neither of which is permitted now.
Yet the proposal quickly drew criticism from wild-horse advocates. Ginger Kathrens of Colorado Springs, a maker of documentary films who has chronicled the lives of a wild-horse herd in Montana, said that blocking reproduction could alter the animals’ behavior.
“It takes the wild out of wild-horse herds,” she said. “They’re families in sophisticated societies. Creating gelding herds and preventing them from reproducing is managing them toward extinction.”
But ranchers, who see wild horses as competing with cattle for grasses and water, welcomed the proposal. Jeff Eisenberg, executive director for the Public Lands Council, a group that works on public lands issues for ranchers, said Mr. Salazar’s proposal was a big step toward a solution.
“Horses are important, but people and their livelihood and food production are important, too,” Mr. Eisenberg said. “We’re for balance.”
Mr. Salazar said the oversight structure for the new preserves had not been determined. He suggested that the federal government could enter into a partnership with figures like the wife of T. Boone Pickens, Madeleine Pickens, who has shown an interest in creating a refuge for horses. Or the program may be solely government-administered, he said.
The Interior Department said the new preserves would improve conditions for horses that are now confined to crowded corrals and would curtail government spending on their care. “It’s a savings to the taxpayer and better for the horses,” Mr. Salazar said.
Unlike the 180 existing, unmanned federal wild-horse areas in the West, Mr. Salazar said, the new, staffed preserves would seek to draw visitors and promote environmental tourism. “We want to showcase the herds,” he said.
But Ms. Kathrens, the wild-horse advocate, said the government should instead put a priority on reducing the millions of head of cattle that graze on public lands, so that horses would have more room.
In addition to the preserves, federal officials will try to loosen current rules under which wild horses and burros can be adopted, so that more people will be able to take one home.
“The public’s demand for wild horses and burros has declined sharply,” said Bob Abbey, director of the Bureau of Land Management, an Interior Department agency.
The number of wild-horse foals is about 7,000 a year, and only 3,700 horses were adopted in 2008, down from 5,700 in 2005. One goal of the government’s new approach is to bring the number of births down to the level of adoptions.